Traceroute

I'm not much of a geek or a nerd but I love good films, especially when they take me places I'd otherwise not see or experience.

Johannes Grenzfurthner is a self-described lifelong nerd who takes us on an informative and humorous road trip across the US, visiting many of the sacred sites of Geekdom. Area 51! The JPL (uh, kind of)! The Very Large Array! And many more…

From the West Coast to the East Coast, Johannes meets and interviews interesting and unusual people, among them a sex-worker nerd, a guy who designed and distributes an easy-access Geiger counter, a woman who sells Trinitite (look it up), a compulsive archivist/collector of obsolete computer equipment, and many more…

Grenzfurthner was born in 1975, around the same time personal computing and digital tech was born. They grew up together, so to speak. Now that all of us are swimming in the deep end of this technological pool, who better to give us a personal tour back to our future(s)? If you're Johannes' age or older you'll enjoy the walk down memory lane. If you're a younger person you'll marvel at the primitive equipment that launched the Digital Revolution. And everyone will get a glimpse of Upcoming Possibilities.

The charm of TRACEROUTE is that the very likable Grenzfurthner keeps it playful, never taking his subject (and, more importantly, HIMSELF) too seriously. This is a fun and light-hearted nerd/geek road film you don't have to be a nerd or geek to enjoy, and if you're not careful you'll actually learn something.

Highly recommended.

I was immediately drawn into this film.

As a certified old hacker, the Traceroute message really resonated with me as I watched Mr. Grenzfurthner explore the culture that made him - and me - what we are today. From the opening scenes, all the way to the credits, I have to say that I was hooked on the nerd, and what he had to say about things, pretty much word for word.

Thorough superlative command of geek language, Mr. Grenzfurthner's painstaking, Austrian-level attention to road-trip details provides much to unpack. Who hasn't wanted to take the Golden Nerd Tour from West to East coasts, visiting all the important sites in hacker culture history, with rockets and pornstar-cum-hackers and aliens and movie stars, obscure scientists and techno legends alike, guiding the way?

I'm sure I'd sign up for this mythical bus tour in my old age, as long as we could have a slightly more geriatric Mr. Grenzfurthner as tour guide, and by then I'm quite confident he would have found ever more exceptional means to bake true meaning into the simplest of hacker things.

Lick the prop! See this movie!

I saw Traceroute as part of a lecture series about 'gender and tech.' I was skeptical first, but Johannes's approach is very compelling. His way of criticizing and questioning white male nerd culture (including himself) is spot on. Johannes is a political and artistic activist, and never forgets his agenda: societal change. The film presents a plethora of interesting debates and features exceptional people, and many interviewees are women/transgender (like Kit Stubbs and Sandy Stone).

Traceroute is an autobiographical film. You might even call it a cinematic essay. Johannes talks about his own past and future, but also the past and future of a class that is now dominating the globe: the nerds. There are many films for (and about) nerds out there, but this one is not about Superman and Star Wars and Donkey Kong, but science, politics, even sex. It is wonderful to see how candid the film approaches the subject matter. Being a nerd means: creativity, visions, openness to experimentation, subversion - and not only regarding program code and video games, but regarding society, values and ideologies.

It's funny that I find myself explaining what "Traceroute" is, this command line utility that's almost as old as the Internet itself. Basically, it's used to show how your packages reach a certain destination on the internet from your computer.

Now I almost feel like using this movie to describe what Traceroute is. Johannes goes on a kind of coming-of-age journey though he's a full blown adult, tracking the origins and path of his own nerd personality through visits to friends, heroes and important landmarks throughout the US.

Johannes knows how to entertain using himself as the material as well as how to drag friends, associates and circumstances to round out the whole journey. Personally, I'm clamoring for a sequel!

(I'd give it a 10 out of 10, but I'm in the movie for a blink so it can't be perfect.)